Letter: Charging phones in school is necessity

Here's another view that I think should be heard regarding the chair-throwing student at New Bedford High School.

It was just a few years ago, cellphones were not allowed at school, period. Then, slowly schools realized there was some benefit to allowing students to have their phones at school. Students could reach their parents for pickup times, forgotten lunches or calling 911 because some lunatic with a weapon had entered their school. Having a dead cell phone wouldn't help much in any of these cases.

A policy of no usage during class time is a no-brainer. But here's the thing: I haven't read once that this kid was using his phone, but merely charging it, which disrupts no one. The question that keeps popping into my head related to this incident: Aren't there bigger issues to deal with than confronting a students on charging a phone?

Would it be too much to ask for a charging area for students who might have forgotten to charge a phone before school? I would think a teacher with years of experience would think twice about fighting the issue of charging a phone.